CFR completes a hattrick: three Italian players for Cluj!

After Roberto De Zerbi (30) and Felice Piccolo (26), CFR Cluj signed a third Italian player, in the very last day of the winter mercato. Davide Bottone (23) comes from Torino and will play for CFR until the end of the season. Bottone is a central midfielder, with one cap for the Italian U21, and has the chance to become the first Italian to have played in Liga I, as De Zerbi is stil out and Piccolo wasn’t even on the bench for the match against Unirea Urziceni.

Rapid announced the signing of Diego Ciz (28), who has a booked flight to Bucharest and is expected to sign a contract until the summer. Ciz, who can play as a full back on both sides, comes as a backup solution for left back Vladimir Bozovic (28), but could become a good replacement for Cristian Sapunaru (25), on the right, in case the ban received in Portugal will keep him from playing for Rapid. The defender from Uruguay belongs to Olimpia and comes in Romania on a loan deal that can be turned into a definitive transfer next summer.

Florin Soava (31) signed a one and a half years long contract with Arsenal Kiew. Soava had been released last month by struggling Universitatea Craiova, mainly in an attempt to get rid of the club’s highest earners. The versatile left footed defender becomes colleague with another former Rapid player, Ionut Mazilu (28).

Ceahlaul Piatra Neamt signs another free player, once a very promising one, but who failed to fulfill his potential, like Ciprian Vasilache, the hero of the wonderful 3-1 away victory against Steaua. Alin Ilin (25) is a central midfielder, raised in Dinamo’s youth ranks, who signed a contract until June 2012.

Radu Baicu

• 15 years of continuous work in scouting, for top clubs and companies;
• Worked for clubs like Bayer 04 Leverkusen and Hannover 96, covering the Romanian market;
• Worked for Birmingham based company ‘The Scouting Network’ (www.tsn.co.uk) as a football scout;
• Worked for Zurich based company Boutique Football as a scouting network coordinator;
• International scout for Young Boys Bern for 2 years, covering Eastern European football.
• Working for the past 5 years as an international scout for a top French club.